Julie E. Czerneda
Julie Czerneda is a Canadian science fiction writer who lives at the edge of a forest
in Orillia, Ontario with her husband and two children. A former researcher in animal
communication, she has also written non-fiction, from biology texts to the use of science fiction to
develop literacy. Her next SF novel, Beholder's Eye, about a somewhat accident-prone shapeshifter, has
been purchased by DAW Books with a tentative publication date of Fall 1998.

A Thousand Words for Stranger is Julie E. Czerneda's first novel,
although you wouldn't guess this from her amazingly competent writing.
Czerneda has created a very compelling and entertaining story.

The tale takes place in a future where a wide variety of species
(including humans) have formed a trade pact regulating interspecies
commerce and other dealings. One of the few species that has declined to
enter the Pact is known only as the "Clan," a people who look human but
have powerful mental powers.

The protagonist of the story is Sira, a Clanswoman. While walking on a
backwater planet with a Clansman for an escort, a gang attacks her, and she
must run for her life. Normally, surviving such an incident would be no
problem for someone with the powers of the Clan. Unfortunately for Sira,
she has no memory of who she is, what the Clan is, why she is on this
planet, or anything else. All she has to go by is a set of strange
compulsions in her head urging her to do certain things.

Feeling a compulsion to get off the planet, she hooks up with Morgan, a
human trader who agrees to get her off-world. This is hardly the end of
her problems. She and Morgan must dodge a pirate who desperately wants to
kidnap and ransom her, Sira's Clan relatives whom she no longer trusts, and
Trade Pact Enforcers who are suspicious of everyone's motives in this
affair. Through it all Sira tries to piece together what has
happened to her and figure out how to use the mental powers she forgot she
had.

As the story progresses Sira grows closer and closer to Morgan, in what
reads almost like a romance. This causes problems as
well, as the Clan is incredibly contemptuous of other species. As Sira
learns more about the life she led before losing her memory, she starts to
realize the difficulties implicit in an interspecies relationship.

Despite the futuristic setting -- with spaceships, aliens, and the like --
this novel reads as much like fantasy as science fiction. The power
of the Clan is so akin to magic as to be indistinguishable in its effects.
The story is compelling enough that both science fiction and fantasy fans
will probably enjoy reading it.

James Seidman is a busy technology manager, who needs the excuse of
doing book reviews to give himself time to read. He lives with his wife,
daughter, two dogs, and twenty-seven fish in Naperville, Illinois.